From You
by Toki Ddoki
Summary: What if Ulquiorra had killed Ichigo? What if Aizen Sosuke was successful? What if Shiori fell in love with Ulquiorra? Retelling of my story Decode, with a different ending and pairing.
1. We, met for the first time years ago

What if Ulquiorra had killed Ichigo? What if Aizen Sosuke was successful? What if Shiori fell in love with Ulquiorra? Retelling of my story Decode, with a different ending and pairing.

**One**

**We, met for the first time years ago**

Death is a part of life. Death is the darkness to the light of life; it is the yin to the yang, the earth to the sky, the water to the fire. Life can surely not exist without death. To die means you were truly alive- that is the truth. Death still hurts though. Is it more painful than life? I don't know. But how could life possibly go on after such an event? After you lose your most important person, how can life be so selfish as to… carry on?

Stood here, alone in the cemetery and staring at my mother's gravestone. Dressed in a black dress and a hat, hands held in front of me from putting down the bouquet of flowers. The weather doesn't even have the courtesy to rain and the birds aren't kind enough to stop singing. I have been stood here for the past few hours; I don't want to go home, it's dark, cold and lonely there.

The place is dead, and that's not a pun. The only other person I'd seen is a boy from my class at school. He came briefly with two young girls to put flowers on another headstone. He noticed me, but he said nothing. I think his name is Ichigo, but I'm not sure. He's friends with Rangiku; a bubbly woman who is persistent in trying to get me to be her friend. I don't do friends; that's why I'm alone. My mother didn't do friends; that's why I'm the only one who cares that she's gone.

My mother was sick; so you think I would have been ready for this but truthfully I had convinced myself that she would be okay. It had never occurred to me that she wouldn't simply just stay ill, the thought of her death had never popped into my head once until she was just that; dead. Gone.

Being so occupied in my thoughts, I didn't really register the light sprinkle of rain coming over until an umbrella held over my head stopped the coolness against my skin. My first thought was it was Rangiku, but if it was her she wouldn't be able to stop herself from saying anything, plus the scent wasn't right. I don't know what compelled Ichigo to act on this simple act of kindness, but it was probably what I needed; some warmth in a place that was a harsh winter.

We stood awkwardly and quietly for a long time, the rain got heavier for a period, but it left just as quickly and Ichigo put the umbrella down with a sigh.

"It's almost five."

Was it? Time carried on still?

"You're cold, you haven't eaten."

Sherlock was spot on.

"You at least need to get warm even if you don't eat. Come on."

He grabbed my hand and led me off before I could put up a fight, but honestly the idea didn't even come to my mind. I didn't want to protest; I wanted someone to reach out and show they cared. I didn't expect it in this form or this person, but the warmth coming from him reminded me that it really wasn't me that died.

"Ichigo… do you think she's happy now? She was in so much pain… was I selfish? I don't want her to be g-gone but… maybe she was in so much pain because… because I couldn't let her go."

"She's your mother, why wouldn't she try and stay alive for you? She would have preferred to be in pain than see you in pain. I guess she figured since you had friends now… you wouldn't be alone. It's not your fault; you're not selfish."

Ichigo was a peculiar person. I had barely spoken to him and yet to act out with such a warm heart, such warm words and even call me a friend… I didn't deserve any of it; but it made me happy. Even if the last place I wanted to be was in his house, which was adjoined to the clinic my mother had spent the last week of her life at, it was homely. Rukia—a girl in my class too, was staying with them but apparently most of his other friends had come for a visit too. Rangiku was slobbed out on the couch, eating crackers with Orihime and Ichigo's youngest sister. The others—Ikkaku, Yumichika and Renji seemed to be having some sort of competition on a games console with Ichigo's other sister, and Toshirou was sat staring at them all like they were morons. Isshin, Ichigo's dad, was nowhere to be seen.

The loudness died a little when Ichigo yelled he was home, and even moreso when they noticed me trailing behind him and lingering at the door with the excuse of taking off my shoes.

Rangiku was the first to open her mouth but Ichigo spoke over her. "Shiori is staying for dinner."

There was something… strange about the gathering though. Apart from his sisters they all seemed to be in on some secret. Sometimes they would exchange glances with each other, sometimes a few of them would whisper but then go quiet. I probably shouldn't have been so paranoid but what else is one supposed to think?

The only reason I stayed after dinner was because I didn't want to be alone at home. It felt almost like I was using them, but it was taking my mind off things and… I really did feel happy. Rangiku even braided my hair into some crazy style I could never do on my own and I even found myself laughing when Renji freaked out because of a spider. It was like the rest of the day hadn't happened and I knew as soon as I was home that I would remember that it had happened and that life did go on, even though I wished it didn't.

We all ended up asleep together in the living room though, I didn't have to go home until the following morning. I don't know if it was because of how exhausted I was or because I felt safe and happy but I hadn't slept so well in such a long time.

It was surprising though, when I awoke to find only Ichigo's sisters and Rangiku there. It must have only been early in the morning, but there was no trace of anyone else at all. Rangiku told me they were all involved with some sort of 'after school club' which was having a meeting that day and they were all there. I didn't really believe her—what type of group would meet on a Sunday and so early in the morning?

It was that morning that everything changed.

The first thing that changed was just after I had finished Yuzu and Karin with the dishes. Both had gone to the grocery store and left Rangiku and I alone. Rangiku was strangely quiet and seemed preoccupied and paid no attention to the person who sat next to her.

I noticed this other person instantly and pretty much freaked out. For a start they were translucent and didn't seem to have any physical being, but they were tugging on Rangiku's shirt; she was acting like it was just another person but… me?

"G-g-g…"

Rangiku looked up at me confused. "Are you okay?"

"G-g-gho.. ghost…"

Well then she looked even more confused and turned to the spot next to her. I thought for a long time she would say she couldn't see anything, but then she looked at me bemused and curious.

"You can see him?"

Well what was that supposed to mean? Of course I could see 'him'! He was as clear as day—despite being see through. Rangiku looked more troubled though and I wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

"I should probably go home and change my clothes, Rangiku-san…" plus the ghost was really starting to creep me out. She was unaffected by it and was unwilling to give me any explanation—she was obviously used to it and had known it was there, but…

"Go straight home, okay?" There was a warning in her tone I didn't like—it wasn't like a mothers caring tone… it was almost like 'if you go elsewhere you'll be sorry', but not in a way that sounded threatening to me. I simply agreed to that and left before another spirit could appear or she changed her mind.

I can't find it in my heart to regret the incident that followed leaving Ichigo's house that morning. If I had stayed I wouldn't have missed my bus, which would have meant I wouldn't have been running home, in the rain on a particularly busy Sunday. When life shows us even an ounce of happiness, it is not reasonable to regret and be thankless for it; once life offers up the joy, we should take it with both hands and never let go. We shouldn't regret it because it's rare for life to be so kind. I have no doubts my life would have been different if I had been even a few minutes later.

What happened is actually a blur as cliché as it sounds. I remember running across the road and slipping on the wet tarmac, and I remember a car skidding on the damp road. I can't say I remember any pain, and I don't remember hearing or seeing anything. There was none of this bright light, none of this life flashing before your eyes; nothing of the sort. It was kind of warm actually.

The next thing I remember was the voice of Aizen Sosuke and the white ceiling of my room in Las Noches. I didn't know it at the time, but this man had dictated my fate since I had returned to Karakura town only three months before. I didn't know, that, if I hadn't left Ichigo's house at the time I had… I would have been sat in soul society instead of Las Noches. I also didn't know how dangerous this man would be.


	2. then fell in love at first sight

**Chapter Two  
Then fell in love at first sight**

Have you ever been in a position where everything feels like it's a dream- and indeed everything happening should only happen in a dream… but it's all entirely real? That's how I felt. Not only was I in a new place- which I was told was 'one' of the few different 'afterlives'- but the people around me exhibited a strange power. They could make strange glowing lights, move from one end of the room to the other in the blink of an eye, they could smash walls with their little fingers… they could regenerate and they carried around with them swords—some of them huge swords. And three of them could cast these spells to make almost anything happen.

Of course being told you're dead is one of the first signs of dreaming, right? If you're dead but conscious you must absolutely be sleeping. There's no other reason for it! Then being told everyone around you is technically a spirit—that one kind of sucks too. It was only after I saw two of them fighting and moving faster than light did I really decide that I had to wake up.

Where had that gotten me?

With a permanent babysitter, that's where.

See, I'd had the idea that if I died in my dream or experienced some considerable measure of pain I would wake right up. So first thing I had done was to bite my tongue. I had felt the pain—but I had stayed firmly asleep. So I tried other types of pain—stabbing myself with a fork, slamming my foot in a door, banging my arm on a table… none of it worked. It was only when I tried to throw myself out of a window that anyone stopped me. Apparently if you died here, you died forever. Funny. How can you die when you're already dead? I wasn't entirely convinced I wasn't dreaming, but I was convinced that Ulquiorra was annoyed at me.

That man, Aizen, had made Ulquiorra keep track of me all the time I was awake. It was obvious he hated the burden—or rather I think it was. He was the unemotional and impassive type. He never spoke to me apart from to tell me I was walking too slow or taking too much time doing something. I don't know how that was possible. All I did was follow him, and he would usually sit in his room with his arms folded. I had tried conversing with him, but he didn't say anything and kept his eyes closed. I'd thought he was sleeping and tried to leave, but he'd grabbed my wrist just before I could stand up.

My main issue was that everyone here seemed to have a purpose or there was a specific reason as to why they were here. Me? Well, no one had given me any reason. I was just supposed to exist here, following Ulquiorra I suppose.

Usually I have quite a good temperament, but I could slowly feel my calm façade slipping. Every time I woke up and he was there—like some creepy vampire waiting in the dark. He wouldn't even leave to let me change—I had to change in the bathroom. One time I had decided to take a shower first and he'd pretty much barged in while I was in the middle of changing. I was mortified. He stayed emotionless. It wouldn't have annoyed me so much if he just spoke once in a while—but there was only so many times I could spend an entire afternoon in silence doing nothing. I'd asked for a book, well, that fell on deaf ears too.

And sitting in silence, doing nothing was where I found myself again that afternoon. Ulquiorra sat opposite, legs crossed and arms folded. I sat in the middle of the sofa, legs together and hands rested on my knees—the plus side to this dream was the clothes were pretty nice. Maybe a bit too white… but they were still nice, and from what I had seen they were pretty durable too.

It was taking every ounce of my strength not to stand up, slam my hand on the table and yell at him to at least say something. I think he could tell—I was tense and kept gripping the bottom of my top to stop me from doing anything. Plus I had bitten my lip to the point where it was bleeding. He didn't react to this, and all I could do was suck on the now swollen soreness.

He barely even twitched when I died back my shoulder length, dark red hair and focused my green eyes on him. I'd never really looked at him properly before. He was the same as the others—dressed in white, sword, some strange kind of mask… he was the most pale though—pretty much as white as his clothes. I had no idea what colour his eyes were, nor did I really care. He was rather small really—in the sense that next to Grimmjow (a blue haired, big mouthed brute) it seemed like Grimmjow would be… above him. I had no idea how the ranks worked, but Ulquiorra seemed pretty high up. Apart from the three, what had been called 'Shinigami' and three of the other 'Espada'- whatever they were- Ulquiorra seemed to outrank everyone else. Even Grimmjow would quieten down if Ulquiorra stared at him. So I suppose I was thankful that Ulquiorra didn't have a big mouth like Grimmjow, but a small amount of conversation would have been nice. I wasn't even sure what to make about his position. Surely Aizen could have just made anyone my 'babysitter', I bet event he lowest of the low could do some of those crazy magic tricks and were stronger than me.

Not like it would be hard—I had no idea how to throw a punch, let alone those… magic tricks….

I wasn't sure why someone of Ulquiorra's position would be the one though. Maybe he was the only one that could be trusted, or maybe he was the only one who wasn't busy. It was probably one of those—maybe Ulquiorra wasn't really strong like the others, and maybe strength really had nothing to do with it. Like I said, I had no idea how to even hit anyone—why would anyone who was strong have to be in charge? It's not like they would have to try hard to protect me from myself, and there was no one on the outside who wanted to hurt me. That idea was absurd.

How long did we even spend in this stupid white room? There were no clocks anywhere, and I could never tell if it was day or night—sometimes you could walk down a corridor and outside one window it would be night, and on the other side it would be day. Ulquiorra's room had one window which showed the night time; the window in my room was forever light. It made it difficult to sleep. Maybe I should have started sleeping while in Ulquiorra's room, and being awake while confined to mine.

If Ulquiorra didn't speak soon, I decided I would say something or just leave.

So I just stared at him.

I don't know how long I stared at him for; it was probably only minutes, but it felt like hours.

"Are you ever actually going to say anything?" I cried, standing up and throwing my hands in the air. "Do you have any idea of how frustrating it is to just… just sit and do nothing for hours, day in day out? I mean, what time of day is it? Night outside one window, daytime outside of another."

Ulquiorra remained still; eyes still closed.

That was it, if he was trying to piss me off, he'd done the right thing.

Growling, I moved so I was stood next to him. "The polite thing to do if someone is talking to you, is to look at them! I am so tired of you not even waiting for me in the mornings—and so what if I walk too slow… it's not my damn fault you got stuck with me. For the record I can't stand it either—aiyeee!"

This place had never had an earthquake before, so it surprised me when the place suddenly shook. Ulquiorra's eyes snapped open—I could have sworn I sore a slight bit of surprise in his… strangely beautiful green eyes, but then he looked at me. I thought he would say something, or move from his seat as the building continued to shake—but he did nothing.

"So you just sit there while the building falls down?"

Well it wasn't falling down or anything, just shaking- and shaking worse every second. Of course, he probably had the right idea because since he was already sitting down he didn't end up losing his footing (which I doubt he would have anyway, he was probably as graceful and agile as the rest of them)—but I did.

It was typical too- the moment I lost my footing and started falling towards the table in the middle of the room the shaking stopped. Well, of course I reacted like anyone else would have. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.

The only thing I felt though was a tug on the back of the coat and top I was wearing—and nothing else. I opened my eyes to see myself suspended inches from the table edge, and Ulquiorra stood behind with the scruff of my clothes in his hand. He seemed as emotionless as ever though.

"Your temper is better than Grimmjow's," he muttered as he pulled me to stand up straight. Was I hearing right? Was he talking… _to_ me, rather than **at** me? "Or, rather, you take longer to lose your temper… but when you do it's worse."

Well yes, I could have told him my temper took a while to pop but when it did—I was a red head, what did he expect? Well, he said nothing else and I expected him to sit back down but instead he started off out of the room. He paused as he opened the door and turned to look at me.

"Come, onna."

Could he not use my name?

"No way! I'm tired of following you around like some sort of puppy!"

"If you don't come I will drag you, and if you make a fuss out of that, I will carry you. If you want your dignity intact, I would come now."

I stared at him for a long time, and he stared back. I saw it two ways; giving into him or embarrassing myself. To be honest, I didn't care much about the second one anymore. As far as I was concerned I was still dreaming, I refused to give into him and do as he said—and honestly, considering how many times he had come in while I was changing I didn't have much dignity left in front of him! Who cared about anyone else who would see me being dragged or carried?

Ulquiorra sighed and came over. He stayed still for a while, possibly debating whether I would start screaming or bite him or something—but he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. You know it's fortunate I'm so short otherwise I would have been eye level with his backside—not a view I wanted.

"Onna, if you scream I will make it so you can't speak again."

So I swallowed down the rebellious retorts and watched the ground go by as he walked. His grip on my waist—which was on his shoulder—wasn't even tight. Id felt his hands on my skin before and I was always surprised at how cold his body was, but it was even more evident being this close to him now.

Still, it was a task to remain in a position where my skirt wouldn't go upside down, and where my top wouldn't fall down either. Then again—he'd seen me naked, so who the hell cared about him? I was more concerned when we entered a room full of other people.

Ulquiorra came to a stop and the voices in the room didn't let up. I could feel stares on us—but what I could feel more evidently was when Ulquiorra just dropped me and walked off. It was lucky I didn't land on my head, but my backside landed with a loud 'oof'.

"HEY!"

Well I didn't care anymore what good would come of it—I decided, I was tired of Ulquiorra and I intended on jumping on him from behind and biting him or, or something but he disappeared and I hit the ground again.

Grimmjow found this funny, and laughed even more when I stood up and glared at him.

"Shut up you blue haired freak! If I wasn't so annoyed at mr mime over there you'd be toast!"

Firstly he laughed—probably finding it funny that I threatened him, but when he realised I had called him a blue haired freak he stood up and advanced on me.

"Eh? What did you call me? I'd suggest making it up to me unless you want to die."

"I called you a blue haired freak—what, are your ears useless too?"

"Why you-!"

"My, my, is this really the same quiet, docile Shiori as from a few days ago?"

Aizen's voice was distinctive enough to recognise it instantly. Grimmjow looked annoyed but when back to his seat. I could feel my heart going wild, and adrenaline rushing through my body—I probably had been in serious danger. Had Aizen saved my life?

"No doubt you felt the tremor, Aizen-sama. It was particularly concentrated in my quarters."

Ulquiorra's voice from behind me surprised me—I hadn't realised he'd been there since I tried to jump on him. Perhaps I was never in that much danger from Grimmjow- would he really of attacked with Ulquiorra there?

"Even from over here the shockwaves were plenty strong. Poor Grimmjow fell over."

Well I couldn't help but smirk at the blue haired wonder—he glared at me, though I wasn't sure how it was my fault at all. I didn't embarrass him, and I didn't push him over.

"Aizen-sama, if you permit, but I think there is more potential."

What? Potential? Was that a man-hollow-shinigami-whatever created earthquake? Ah, so they were discussing how to make it larger? Why on Earth would they do that? It would destroy things! Unless that was their intention, but why would they risk their own 'house', or rather palace?

"You think so, Ulquiorra?" Aizen mused, looking quite curious. "Things already took longer than intended."

"Now I know how it works I can get it out faster."

The hell where they talking about?

They spoke for a few more moments—I spent most of the time pulling faces at Grimmjow's ugly face. He glared at me, and looked very close to pouncing at me. Perhaps it was somewhat childish—Ulquiorra ended up standing in front of me to stop me from doing it too. I really don't know what had come over me—usually my temper comes and goes. I've never stayed angry for so long, and it wasn't even as if I was angry… I just felt… different. I didn't feel half as shy as I usually would be, and it felt as if I had some sort of confidence. I had no idea where it had come from and honestly, I wasn't even complaining it was really nice to have confidence for once… I couldn't help but feel like it was going to get me into trouble though.


	3. Baby, no matter where I go

**Chapter 3  
No Matter Where I go**

People experience growth spurts at various points in their life… usually due to hormones or something. People who are dead don't grow. Or so I thought.

After the 'earthquake' Ulquiorra had confined me to my room. One of the other… people here had brought me dinner that night, and I ate it. I wasn't really complaining. I was able to enjoy a warm bath and some privacy, but I couldn't help but feel that… that something was wrong.

Well, anyway, when I woke up I found that the night clothes I had been wearing had shrunk overnight. Where the dress had previously come to below the knee—well, now it came barely to cover a few inches of my thighs and in addition my breasts had expanded, my hair had grown and there was something more… mature about my face that I couldn't put my finger on. I must have grown half a foot, because everything I wore barely fit. In the end I had to settle for a pair of skin tight, white trousers which barely sat on my hips, and a white top which ended up exposing my stomach. I covered it with a jacket, but that only just covered the rest of the skin. I felt exposed and very uncomfortable.

I wasn't even sure what to do with my unruly red hair. There was just too much for one hair tie and the stupid thing had broken when trying to bundle it all in.

What disturbed me more was that Ulquiorra wasn't sat in the chair in the corner of the room. It was nice—it meant he didn't have to see me panic about everything, and it meant that now I actually had something to show, I didn't have to get embarrassed about him seeing it.

However lunch time came and went and no one appeared. I was restless. I couldn't explain it but I felt like I had to be on the move, and I had to go somewhere and do something.

So that was what I did.

My room was unlocked and I went for a walk.

Las Noches as this place was called was huge, and white. I'd barely seen any of it while following Ulquiorra. To begin with I retraced the same steps so that I would know how to get back, but then I took the time to go elsewhere. Noone else was around and it almost seemed as though I had the entire… 'Palace' to myself.

That was until I walked into something—or someone cold and hard. Of course clumsy I would choose to walk into Grimmjow at that moment. Grimmjow, who was still angry at my comments and seemed to be in an extremely foul mood.

I should have felt scared. I should have run away the moment I walked into him. I should have looked where I was going, and should have seen him coming and avoided him. I should have stayed in my room. Instead I just stood there, smirking at him while he glowered at me.

So my growth spurt had an advantage; I was now eye level with him.

"What's the matter, kitten? Someone spit in your milk?"

"Watch your mouth!" he was right, of course. "I could kill you with my little finger." I still couldn't get over the killing someone who is already dead thing but… I had sort of seen it happen. These people could bleed, and they got hungry… it was like they were alive but just didn't have to breathe… they seemed to do it out of habit though.

"Why don't you then?"

"You're not worth the hassle of cleaning up," he snarled, hand going right to his 'zanpakuto'.

I should have tensed up and shut up.

"I think you're just scared, that or you're just too weak to be able to do anything to me."

Grimmjow had no words to respond with, instead he sent one of those laser beams—also known as a cero—through a wall and then grabbed me against the wall so his zanpakuto was pressed against my neck. So he was pretty fast too.

"I should kill you… Slowly and painfully… you're just a woman after all. A human woman, with no powers."

"Grimmjow… was there any need to destroy the wall?"

I felt him tense up at the voice—and I couldn't help but smirk a bit more. So he was scared of Ulquiorra?

"Well she deserved it. Maybe you should lock her up tighter and teach her some manners."

He let go. Possibly because of Ulquiorra's cold stare or possibly because he was just bored—or maybe, most likely, because he really couldn't be bothered with the hassle of torturing me like he wanted to, because Ulquiorra was now involved.

Grimmjow left Ulquiorra and I in the hallway. Neither of us moved nor made a sound. Actually, if I was honest, I felt a little scared of Ulquiorra right then. Though he remained impassive as he stared at me, I could almost feel anger and disappointment coming from him. I couldn't look him in the eye, and somehow my new found confidence just floated out of my feet and ran like mice that'd just seen a cat.

Ulquiorra broke the silence first by walking towards me. I expected the grab of my wrist and the silence as he dragged me back to my room… I didn't expect it when he slapped me.

All I could do was obediently follow after him. I could feel blood running down my cheek, and it hurt a lot—but I refused to acknowledge any of the pain… before I would have cried, but somehow I really didn't want to seem weak in front of him.

"If you provoke Grimmjow you will die," he said coldly as he pushed me into my room. He locked the door and sat in the chair in the corner. Brilliant… Confinement in my room, with him.

"Well I wish someone would tell me why I'm here…" I didn't even feel angry at him, and I stopped holding my bleeding cheek to sit on the edge of my bed and stare at him.

I thought he wouldn't reply but instead he sighed. Usually he was so impassive, but he actually showed a lot of emotion. Maybe I just wasn't looking for it before—or maybe I couldn't see it.

"You don't need to know why you're here… but to put it basically; you have potential for a power unlike the rest of us. Aizen-sama is interested in it."

"A power… unlike the rest of you?"

Ulquiorra sighed again. "That Earthquake yesterday was caused by you. You have a vast amount of untapped, and unstable reiatsu." Apparently, reiatsu was 'spiritual energy' or… something. "Humans don't usually have that amount. Even after death. In the rare cases they do… they either become Shinigami or hollows… devour them."

It still didn't explain anything.

"Hollows seem to be repulsed by your reishi which they should find… appetising." He paused with his words lingering on the last word. I should have been freaked out by his words… and indeed I was. I couldn't suppress the shudder and it seemed to be the right reaction for him. "Aizen-sama and Ichimaru-sama both say your reiatsu is different to the types that become Shinigami too."

"So… I'm a freak?"

He gave me a dry look and stood up.

I thought he would slap me again, so I shied away from him and clenched my eyes. He put his hand on my cheek… and I was actually surprised to feel him wiping away the dried blood. For unemotional and impassive Ulquiorra… it almost seemed like an action of affection from him. His hand was actually warmer than I'd ever felt, and softer than I had felt from him in the past.

But it was over quickly and he stood up straight without blinking.

"Simply put you could be a weapon Aizen-sama could have a use for."

Ulquiorra sat back down. I felt strange at his words—weapon? Was that really all I was to anyone here? I had to admit… it hurt. I didn't know any of these people so why should I want to be anything to any of them? Still… I guess anyone who is human hopes to belong. Isn't that all we ever search for, a place we call home, with people we love?

And who even asked me if I wanted to be a weapon? A weapon for what exactly! It isn't in my nature to hurt people—sure, I admit, recently I had been feistier than anything but… something had happened to me to cause it… and now I felt more like myself than I had in a long time. I don't know if it was Ulquiorra slapping me, or his random bout of showing affection. But I suddenly missed home too…

I wondered though. Did anyone there miss me? My mother was gone… my father was gone. My brother—off around the world with his wife. Rangiku… Ichigo—they probably put me out of their mind now. I'd probably never see them again… Rangiku was probably happy to be away from someone who could 'see ghosts'.

Maybe it was good someone had a use for me in death. I was useless in life but… but still… a weapon? All my life… trying to find people who care and a place I belong and all I had to show for it was death, being confined to a room and….

"Onna… if you are going to cry-"

"I'm not crying, Ulquiorra!" I hissed, rubbing at my eyes quickly. "Why on earth would I cry?"

He stayed silent though he kept staring at me. I didn't get it—if I was this.. all powerful weapon, why weren't they doing anything to.. use it or train me to use it? Maybe they figured I'd use it against them and try to escape. It was an idea—but really… where else could I go? Right now… the power to read minds would be handy…. Or maybe they wanted me to fight back. But if that was the case Ulquiorra wouldn't have stopped Grimmjow earlier.

It was almost like everything had stopped going forward and I had to do something to make the game start again; the issue was… I didn't know if I wanted to keep playing or not.


End file.
